


Solve For X

by ScarlettWallflower



Category: The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr, and does particularly well with math, based on a headcanon that Dallas is actually very intelligent, but there are hints, jally-ish, not blatant enough to be a ship fic, request fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-18 20:51:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14860085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarlettWallflower/pseuds/ScarlettWallflower
Summary: "Johnny had always known that Dallas was smart but he had assumed that Dallas’ area of expertise lay solely in jacking cigarettes from a corner store and horse racing. Never in a million years would he have associated Dallas Winston and mathematics."In which Dallas helps Johnny with math homework and Johnny marvels at this new side of his friend.





	Solve For X

Ten minutes. Ten minutes since Darry had managed to guilt Johnny into doing his homework before heading outside to fix something on the porch. Ten minutes since Johnny had begun working on the first problem. Ten minutes of Dallas peering over the back of the couch like a creep, watching Johnny struggle.

Dallas was conflicted. One the one hand, he had a reputation to uphold. It just wouldn’t do for one of the guys, or God forbid, Tim Shepard, to waltz in and see him not only doing schoolwork but helping Johnny. 

But on the other hand, this was Johnny, the guy who occupied about ninety percent of his thoughts and he needed help. Besides that, it was frustrating to watch someone be unable to do something he knew he could easily do and honestly, sitting like this was starting to hurt.

His mind made up, Dallas flung himself unceremoniously off the couch and strode casually over to where Johnny sat at the kitchen table.

“Uhh, whatcha doing?”

“Math homework,” Johnny muttered, sullenly propping his chin up with his fist.

Dallas scratched his chin and tried not to give too much away. He was contemplating his next move when Johnny continued, “I dunno why I even bother. I’m too stupid for all this.”

All subtlety was out the window and Dallas threw himself down into a chair next to Johnny, index finger pointed sharply up and in Johnny’s face.

“Hey, you quit talkin’ like that! You’re one of the smartest kids I know. And anyway, just cause you have trouble with math doesn’t mean anything. You just probably got bad teachers, that’s all. Here, I’ll show you what to do.”

He snatched Johnny’s math book up and scanned the pages including the lesson and the problems on the following page.

“Oh yeah, yeah, this is- okay I know what we’re doing here. Which ones do you have to do?”

“The whole page,” Johnny said slowly, watching in quiet horror as Dallas Winston flipped to a new sheet of paper in his notebook and began copying out the problem in small, neat handwriting.

“Alright, I’m gonna do this first one here, you watch me and I’ll explain what I’m doing. Then you’ll do the next one.”

Johnny nodded but was nervous. On occasion, Johnny had fantasized about Dallas coming to his rescue. 

Late at night, when he was alone and waiting for sleep to take him, he’d imagine a different reality, one in which Dallas had come along in time to prevent him from being beaten up by those damn Socs. Together, they’d have been able to take them on, chase them out of their territory. The rest of the details depended on Johnny’s mood and couldn’t be brought to mind without some intense blushing. 

But this was… well, unexpected, to say the least. Johnny had always known that Dallas was smart but he had assumed that Dallas’ area of expertise lay solely in jacking cigarettes from a corner store and horse racing. Never in a million years would he have associated Dallas Winston and mathematics.

Dallas was no slouch as a teacher either. He went slowly, making sure to explain every step and why it was done. When Johnny didn’t understand, he went back and showed him again.

Once Johnny had gotten the hang of it and was doing the problems on his own while Dallas watched him like a hawk, Johnny was reeling. Dallas Winston, a tough hood and the definition of an “Irish temper”, was patiently helping him through his math homework. It was surreal.

“Hey Johnny, you in there?”

“Huh?”

Dallas grinned. “You were staring off into space. What’re you looking for?”

“Rod Serling,” Johnny mumbled.

“What?”

“Nothing. How’d I do?”

“There’s a couple mistakes in here. Go back and do twelve and twenty again and I’ll show you where you got mixed up. Then when you’re done with that, we’ll work on thirty. That one’s weird, I don’t know why the hell they put that in here. I mean, it’s just gonna confuse you because you have to use two different equations than the one you’ve been using and…”

Dallas went on, the course of his rant turning into a diatribe against the education system in Oklahoma and Johnny tried not to stare. Who knew Dallas felt so passionately about math or school in general, especially considering that he himself never went?

Johnny thought about, not for the first time, what Dallas had done in New York. He’d lived there for three years but never said much about it. Now that he was considering it, Johnny had always assumed that Dallas had spent his time running the streets with his gang. But that was silly, of course he'd gone to school, at least sometimes. Johnny wondered what Dallas’ old school was like and if he was a good student. Did he act up in class or just sit quietly in the back? Were the other kids friendly to him or did they treat him with the same contempt most of the people in Tulsa did?

What was Dallas like back then? Johnny imagined a smaller, smiling Dallas, sitting in a classroom and answering his teacher’s questions and felt sad in a strange way.  
But in spite of the initial shock and sudden feeling of loss, Johnny couldn’t extinguish the delight bubbling up in him. He was sitting close enough to Dallas to smell his soap and deodorant. Dallas’ attention was focused solely on him and he never seemed annoyed or bitter. The two of them were just sharing this calm, quiet space in time.

When Johnny had finished his assignment and Dallas had given it his seal of approval, Johnny turned to Dallas and looked him in the eyes. It was a balancing act, trying to add just enough weight to the moment to let Dallas know he’d been happy but not so much that Dallas would brush it off and run.

“Thanks for helping me, Dally. I think I understand it pretty good now. You’re real smart.” Johnny allowed himself a small, earnest smile. A silent offering, hoping against hope that Dallas would take it.

“Sure kid, don’t mention it.”

That night, when Johnny closed his eyes, he remembered Dallas’ hand on his knee and that small, crooked smile that just barely reached his eyes.


End file.
